Girls That I Like
by Hallon
Summary: Jess and Luke and a discussion of love? Set in One's Got Class and the Other One Dyes.


**_Summary:_** _Jess and Luke and a discussion of love? Set in_ One's Got Class and the Other One Dyes.

 ** _A/N:_** _This is just something that jumped into my mind one night, and I do love Jess and Luke together. It takes place in_ One's Got Class and the Other One Dyes, _later that afternoon after Jess and Luke had their little talk about how to properly treat people. Luke's words made a bigger impact on Jess than on the show._

 ** _Disclaimer:_** _Gilmore Girls is not mine. Not now, not ever._

* * *

 **Girls That I Like**

Luke came in through the door, absentmindedly double checking a couple items on the order slip. There was something missing, but he couldn't remember what it was. He took a couple steps into the room before looking up, and then he froze. "Jess!"

"Uncle Luke," Jess responded calmly from his seat at the kitchen table, looking up briefly from his book and taking another bite of his sandwich.

Luke stared at him for a second. "You're here."

Swallowing quickly, Jess eyed his uncle suspiciously. "Huh. Way to state the obvious."

"No…" Luke muttered, moving over to the table, quickly starting to explain. "I just wasn't expecting you, that's all."

"Well," Jess said, drawing out the word, gesturing at the apartment with the book in his hand. "Last I checked, I lived here too."

"Of course."

"Then, what?" Jess scoffed, unimpressed. "I'm not supposed to be inside the apartment when the sun is up?"

"No! Don't be ridiculous…" Luke grumbled, then frowned, backtracking. "I just didn't see you get back in and... Wait, weren't you going out with, Shane was it?"

"Changed my mind," Jess muttered, head once more buried deep in his book.

Luke paused at that, frowning. "Oh. Why?"

"Just didn't feel like it anymore," Jess bit out defensively.

"Ok…" Luke said slowly, regarding his nephew a bit more closely. "So, you gonna see her some other time instead?"

Jess let the book fall down on the table with a thud and glared at his uncle. "What's with all the questions?"

Luke put up his hands in the air, backing up a step. "Nothing, I was just wondering."

"Whatever," Jess grumbled, going back to his book again. "And if you must know; no, I'm not."

Luke frowned, absentmindedly wondering when his nephew would cause his face to permanently adapt that expression. "Huh. Why not?"

"We just went over this thirty seconds ago," Jess drawled. "Should I be concerned about your memory?"

"You're hilarious."

"I mean, if you can't remember simple things like that…" Jess continued, deliberately letting the sentence drop.

"Did you tell her this?" Luke inquired, ignoring the jibe.

Jess' head flew up instantly. "What?" he snapped, angrily.

"Sorry, just asking."

"Yeah, well, it sounded like you were implying I'd just bail on her."

"It wouldn't be the first time," Luke shrugged.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"You did it to Rory after the accident," Luke retorted, quite deliberately, the brief look of pain that crossed his nephew's face telling him he just struck a nerve.

"Hey!" Jess yelled, getting up from the chair. "Don't you go drag that up! That was completely different!"

"Well," Luke shrugged. He knew this probably wasn't the right way to go about this, but at least now the kid was talking, which had to be a step in the right direction. "You did just leave. And you yourself admitted you didn't even care about Shane."

"Look!" Jess growled through clenched teeth. "First off, Rory wasn't my girlfriend. I didn't leave her any more than I left Kirk. And secondly, I didn't exactly hear you protest at the time."

Luke nodded. "I know, and I'm sorry about that. I shouldn't have just agreed like that."

"Whatever," Jess muttered.

"But Jess," Luke continued, determined to see this through. If there was one thing he'd learned about Jess during his time here, it was that he let his guard down when he got riled up. "At least she actually cares about you. Unlike this Shane girl apparently."

Jess raised an eyebrow, staring at his uncle in disbelief. "She does, huh?"

"Yeah," Luke said with conviction. "She does."

"Well, if so, she's sure got a funny way of showing it," Jess scoffed, shaking his head.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Luke asked, deciding there was no point in holding back. "You're the one who went out and got a girlfriend instead of waiting for her."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Jess all but shouted, finally having had too much of this crap. "You have no idea what the hell you're talking about!"

"Then tell me!" Luke yelled back. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Jess deflated, instantly regretting getting roped into this conversation in the first place. He'd already revealed way too much for his own liking. Without looking at Luke he stalked over to his dresser to get his boots. He needed to get out of the apartment.

"Hey, don't give me that," Luke called after him. "Now, I know we don't usually talk about this kind of stuff, or anything at all for that matter, and this would be the second time today, but it's obviously bugging you, so why don't you just humor me for once and explain what you mean?"

"What's the point?" Jess spit out angrily, straightening out to send his uncle a death glare. "It's not like that's gonna change anything."

"You don't know that!"

"You can go on believing whatever you want, but keep me out of it," Jess muttered darkly, pulling on his other boot.

"Ok then," Luke relented, realizing the only way he would get Jess to keep talking was to offer something in return. "As you so eloquently pointed out earlier, I do have some experience with a…similar situation."

Jess whipped his head up in surprise, not quite believing he was hearing right. "Huh."

"So…" Luke started, pausing briefly to think of how to proceed.

"So what?"

"So, I may not be able to offer actual advice, but I can relate."

Jess sighed, watching his uncle shift uncomfortably from foot to foot. He really didn't want to be talking about this, but he still found himself walking back over to the kitchen table and sitting down. Luke blinked, at first not believing what just happened. Then he quickly joined his nephew, sitting down in a chair opposite him. They sat in silence, both men looking down at their hands resting on the table, neither of them knowing what to do now. After a minute Luke looked up.

"Ok then," he mumbled.

"She came to New York, you know," Jess blurted out a moment later, still not looking up.

"Rory?" Luke said in disbelief, staring at his nephew.

"No, the tooth fairy," Jess deadpanned, irritation rising up in his throat again.

"Sorry," Luke apologized. "I just wasn't expecting that. She did?"

Jess nodded. "Yeah, skipped school and everything."

Luke watched Jess thoughtfully for a couple seconds, putting the pieces together. "That's why you came back," he finally concluded out loud.

"Yup," Jess confirmed, his jaw tightening at the memory. "Stupid me."

"Hey, don't say that!" Luke protested, feeling an immediate urge to defend the boy, even from himself. A second later he mentally corrected himself. Jess really wasn't a boy anymore, if only just barely.

"Yeah, well…" the young man muttered deprecatory. "It didn't exactly change anything."

"Jess, come on…" Luke tried to interject, but Jess wasn't listening.

"I don't even know what I'm doing here anymore," he mumbled, picking at a few crumbs left over from his sandwich.

"What do you mean?" Luke frowned. "You live here."

Jess looked up briefly before going back to watching the crumbs. "No offense, but living with my uncle isn't exactly my life's goal," he muttered. "And pretty much everyone else can't wait to see me gone again."

"That's not true!" Luke objected.

"No?" Jess challenged, staring at the older man with an eyebrow raised.

"No."

Jess shrugged. "It's your right to believe that if you want, I guess."

Luke wanted to keep protesting, but thought better of it. The kid wasn't gonna believe him anyway, and, though he didn't want to admit it, he did have a point. "What about Rory then?"

Jess stared at him in disbelief, closely followed by anger when the last wall finally broke. "Did you miss that part about how my moving back changed absolutely nothing?" he spat out.

Luke blinked, taken aback by the sudden force of the outburst. "No, but…"

"Except, that's not entirely true," Jess continued vehemently, finding himself unable to stop the words from pouring out of his mouth. "Because something did change. That day when I came back, she kissed me. And then she disappeared to Washington for the summer, right after telling me not to say anything. And I stayed here, waiting like the fucking idiot that I am. Until that day when Dean and Lorelai were sitting in the diner, laughing and exchanging anecdotes from the letters she sent them. So, don't tell me how she cares about me, because clearly she made her choice, and I'm definitely not it."

"Jess…" Luke started gently, finally getting a glimpse of the events that transpired at the beginning of the summer. He had deduced that something had happened, but not been able to get any information out of Jess. Not that that was anything new.

Jess sighed, and quickly cut him off. "No, it's fine," he said dismissively, trying to downplay it. "Plenty of fish in the pond, right? Isn't that what you said earlier?"

"Well, yeah," Luke reluctantly agreed. "But…"

"No, just drop it, ok?" Jess almost growled.

But Luke wasn't about to let it go yet. "Maybe you just didn't give her enough time to figure out her feelings," he suggested.

"I didn't give her enough time?" Jess baffled, staring at his uncle in disbelief. "Is that supposed to be some kind of joke? I've been here for a year, Luke. A year. And I could feel it the first time I saw her. And I know she did too. And you tell me I didn't give her enough time? Seriously?"

"The first time? Really?"

"Yes! I'm fucking pathetic, now can we drop this?"

"You're not…" Jess just glared, and Luke dropped it this time. "Well, have you tried telling her…any of this?"

"Are you seriously asking me that?" Jess scoffed. "You of all people."

Luke stuck his hands up in surrender. "Fair enough."

"And besides, she has a boyfriend. What was I supposed to do? Walk up to her and say: Hey, how about you just dump that big oaf, because I love you? I don't think so."

Luke froze, just staring at the young man next to him. "You love her?"

"What?" Jess balked, suddenly very interested in the bread crumbs again. "I didn't say that."

"Oh, I think you just did."

"No! I…" he began, but then just shook his head. "So what if I did? It's all just pointless anyway."

"You don't know that."

"What part of this story did you not hear? I did everything I could think of, short of actually going all Romeo on her, and apparently nothing worked."

"But you left…"

"Yes! Because I couldn't stand the thought of hurting her. I…thought that when she was over the shock, she'd want nothing more to do with me, and leaving before that happened seemed like the best option."

"Jess, you can't just assume people will…"

"Why not?" he questioned, defiantly. "It's what everyone else in my life has ever done."

"That's not true, Jess."

"It's not?" he challenged. "Name one person that's ever stuck by me! I mean, come on, my own mother couldn't even do it."

"I did," Luke said calmly, realizing finally that this young man in front of him had no real concept of what it was like to have someone on his side. And as he said it, he also had to acknowledge the fact that him letting Jess leave probably hadn't helped. Jess' bitter laugh only served to confirm that.

"No, I did," Luke quickly repeated.

"Yeah, you sticking me on that bus was really comforting," Jess argued, even though he had been the one to insist on it.

"I know. And I can't change that," Luke acknowledged. "And I know I wasn't around much when you were younger, and I can't change that either, but this past year, even though it may not have seemed like it at times, I was always on your side."

Jess was quiet, not really able to argue Luke's point anymore, because he knew he was right. And truthfully, it was a bit painful to recognize just how he had repaid his uncle.

"Why did you do it?" Jess finally asked.

"Do what?"

"You turned your whole life upside down. For me. You didn't have to do that. You had no reason at all to do that."

"You're family," Luke answered simply.

"Oh, come on," Jess scoffed, disbelieving. "That's bullshit, and you know it."

"You are. And in my family, you take care of your own. No matter what."

"So, I'm an obligation?"

"What?" Luke exclaimed. "No!"

Jess watched him quizzically. "No?"

"No. I mean, you're snarky and sarcastic, and generally a pain in the butt…"

"Gee, thanks," Jess muttered.

"But," Luke continued, unfazed by the interruption, "despite all that, I kinda like having you around."

"Huh."

"I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice to, once in a while, get a real answer out of you, without the attitude, but generally speaking, we get along pretty well, don't you think?"

Jess was watching his uncle, not sure what to believe. "I'm sorry," he finally managed to get out. "For making your life so difficult.

"I know," Luke muttered, about as uncomfortable with the turn of the conversation as Jess.

"Do you want to know why I didn't call you when I was back in New York?"

Luke frowned. "Jess, you don't have to…"

"No, I do," Jess insisted. "It was easier to stay away when I could convince myself it was for the best of everyone."

Luke nodded sadly. "And then Rory came looking for you?"

"Yeah," Jess breathed out.

"How did she even find you? I mean, it's a pretty big city."

Jess was quiet for a long time, but then he sighed. "I…um, called her."

"Oh."

"I wasn't going to. I told myself that she was better off, that you both were, but then I found myself at a payphone, dialing her number."

Luke just watched him, taking in the tired expression and the slumped shoulders, for the first time realizing just how much the events of the past couple of months had hurt his nephew. Sure, he hadn't exactly made the best of choices every time since he came to Stars Hollow, but Luke couldn't see that he had done anything so very wrong. And considering the environment the kid had grown up in and the way his mother had impacted on his life, something Luke was still coming to terms with, he could have acted so much worse.

He suddenly remembered that night at the bridge, when he found Jess after the accident. He should have known then. He should have realized why he wanted to leave, and he should have done something. Instead he let the kid get on a bus and leave town, and in the process, despite his protests, confirming to the town the idea that the whole thing had been Jess' fault instead of an accident that could've just as easily happened to anyone.

"It's good to have you back here," Luke finally said, pretty sure Jess needed to hear it.

"Thanks," Jess mumbled, slumping back even further in his chair.

"She really came to New York?"

"Yeah," Jess nodded, still not looking up, but he couldn't completely suppress the small smile as he remembered that day.

Luke noticed. "What did you do?" he asked, curious. "In New York I mean."

"Nothing much," Jess shrugged truthfully. They didn't, but it had still been a pretty amazing day. "Ate lunch, went to a record store, walked around. Then she went home to catch her mom's graduation."

"Oh."

Jess looked up at that, something in his uncle's tone putting him on his guard. "What?"

"She didn't make it to the graduation," Luke said with a frown.

Jess stared at Luke. "What?"

"She never came. I think she was waiting for Lorelai when she got home, but I never got any details."

"Fantastic," Jess muttered, shaking his head in defeat. "Another thing to add to the pile of reasons why Lorelai hates me."

"She doesn't..." Luke immediately started to protest, but Jess cut him off.

"Don't finish that sentence."

"But..."

"Look, can we just drop it?" Jess asked, sounding tired. "This has been great and all, but I'd rather just read for a bit than discuss this anymore."

"Ok," Luke agreed. "Just, you know... Let me know if you ever want to talk again, ok?"

"Sure," Jess muttered absentmindedly, nose already buried in the book once more. "I'll be down to help out in the diner in a bit."

Luke was about to argue, saying there was no need for that, but decided against it. Instead he nodded to himself and stood up. He walked over to the door, but stopped before going out and just watched the figure sitting at his kitchen table for a while. He looked completely lost to the outside world, but Luke knew that was far from the case.

"If you're going down it helps if you open the door," Jess muttered, at the same time leaning further down, writing something in the book.

Luke couldn't help but smile, strangely happy to hear the snarky remark. "Thanks for the tip," he chuckled, and then went back down to the waiting diner, leaving a smirking Jess in the apartment.


End file.
